


With You Etched Within Me

by SakiaLumei



Series: Under Black Flags [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates, F/M, Fluff, Mermaid Sakura, Pirate Captain Leo, Tattoos, er getting old timey tattoos, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2018-09-08 17:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8854750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SakiaLumei/pseuds/SakiaLumei
Summary: Long had she admired the blue and black designs on his skin, like artwork immortalized on his body. Now, she could finally see how such beautiful work was done.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm behind-ish on LeoSaku week but then the server blew up about pirate au  
> SO  
> I'M DOING IT  
> don't worry PATP will come off hiatus after LeoSaku week but IN THE MEANTIMEEEEEE HAVE THIS

**With You, Etched Within Me**

 

Long had she admired the blue and black designs on his skin, like artwork immortalized on his body. Early on, he had shown her every piece, allowing her to run her delicate, rosy fingers over the skin. His biggest was on his right shoulder, creeping onto his back. A human skull, two cutlasses between its jaws with a rose on its captain’s hat. Though it was morbid and unoriginal, Leo said that it was more about the experience than the actual design. He pointed out the expert shading, how the black ink faded and darkened at certain spots to give shape to the skull and swords. “Niles is good at what he does,” Leo said, showing her the rest of his arm. Towards the top, below the shoulder, were vines curling around his arm. She lifted his arm and looked up, following the curves and smaller bits, her eyes wide at the detail put into it.

“How does it work?” she asked him.

Leo winced, rolling his shoulders back. “With needles dipped in ink,” he said. Then he paused, looking at her up and down. “…Next time. You should watch.”

She nodded. “O-Okay!”

And as he promised, that time soon came. She sat down in a chair, watching with curious eyes as Leo lifted his white shirt over his head. No matter how often he was without his top clothing, she would never not be mesmerized by the curves of his muscles and his tattoos already etched in. As he rolled his shoulders, the skull on his back moved along the bones under his skin. The vines stretched as he flexed his arms back and forth. She would have stared longer if she hadn’t heard the screeching sound of nails against a hard surface. Turning her head to his First Mate, the dark-skinned man sat straddled in his seat, a bundle of needs between his teeth as he took a stone to sharpen the one in his hand. She pursed her lips, fingers digging into the fabric of her dress. Concerned for Leo’s safety, she managed a couple of shy words. “I-Is…d-does it h-hurt y-you?”

Niles and Leo exchanged glances before snickering into laughter. Leo tossed his shirt aside and turned his seat around to sit as well. He extended his left arm to Niles as they died down. “Does it hurt? Well…”

“It hurts,” Niles said bluntly. Sakura held back a gasp behind her lips as Niles dipped his needle into pitch-black ink. “Also depends where,”

“Yes, well,” Leo said with a sigh. “You’re a masochist, so you keep getting them on your ribs and collar bone—gh!” Sakura flinched in her seat as the needle poked him once. He spoke with narrowed brows, yet a dull tone. “I wasn’t ready yet, you ass.”

Niles snorted, holding Leo’s arm in place. “I like inflicting pain just as much as I like getting it,” he said, poking him again. Sakura, out of fear and curiosity, inched closer and leaned over to see what was happening. For one, it was nothing like using a quill pen and writing along the skin, like she had thought. Leo had to sit there, suppressing his reflexes to twitch in pain, a single line taking minutes due to the fact that Niles had to dot it across. His skin became redder by the second until one poke drew some blood.

“Sh-should I h-help?” Sakura asked, as the drops increased until they streaked down his arm. Leo shook his head, sweat forming on his forehead.

“No.” His voice was quite strained. He looked to her, brows furrowed in his concentration of trying not to move, his lips pressed into a thin line. Yet, he smiled. “Tell me a story.”

Sakura blinked in surprise, looking between him and the needlework on his arm. Niles hadn’t looked up at all, his hand steady and eyes narrowed. She smoothed her sweaty palms along her dress, realizing that Leo was begging for distraction.

“O-Okay…” Her finger reached up, wrapping around one of her hair locks as she searched within her memory to think of something, and think of something fast. “U-Uhmm…wh-what about the t-time I…I uh…oh!” She grinned. “O-One time, I s-saw these t-two ships f-fighting.” Seeing Leo lift his brow discouraged her and she shrunk back. “I-I guess that’s not t-to exciting since you…you do it all the time,”

“No, no,” he said rather quickly. “Tell me. What were the ships like?”

Sakura bit her lip, looking at her hands. “U-Uhm…” She lifted them, making a general, oval outline. “B-Big, I guess? O-One was white and r-red, though…”

“Ah,” Leo said, putting his hand under his chin. “Sounds like an imperial ship.” He winced that time and Sakura looked down, noticing that Niles had made it to the center of his wrist. Trying not to imagine the pain he was in, she shook her head and continued.

“Y-yeah. I-I think the other was p-pirates.” She made a shape with her fingers to make a rectangle. “Black flag.”

Leo grinned. “Oh, I see. Do you remember the design?”

“Y-yeah! It was a…” She rolled up her sleeve, clenching her fist. “It was doing this. O-Oh! And it had a sword.”

Leo’s eyes widened. “An arm with a sword…and the flag was black for sure?” Sakura nodded once and just like that, his face lit up like the seas in the morning sun. “You know who that sounds like?” Leo said to Niles, his voice much more chipper.

“Hell yeah. Sounds like she saw good ol’ Thomas Tew.”

Leo laughed, turning back to Sakura. “Thomas Tew! Hah!” With his free hand, he reached for her shoulder, shaking it. “That’s amazing. Man’s a legend. One of the original founders of Libertalia ‘fore Xan…and the rest came in.” He shook his head. “The man’s still at large. How long ago was this?”

Sakura was elated at first to see such wonder in Leo’s eyes. It was a rare sight, and rarer more that he was being stabbed repeatedly over and over. “Ah, uh…” She smiled, feeling rose return to her cheeks. “N-not that long ago. A couple of full moons, I would think?”

“No kiddin’? Hah!” He slapped the head of his chair. “Damn. Ol’ Tew is still around. That’s one hard man to kill.” Though he softened his expression, Sakura still saw the spark in his eyes. “What do you remember? Better yet, who won?”

And so, she weaved her story, starting from the beginning. Using her hands, she told them how she watched from afar, first intrigued from the loud and bright sounds in the night. After Tew had put a couple of cannonballs into the Imperial ship, she told him how she saw his crew swing onto and board the imperial. She described the fire raining down and the loud sounds of sword combat coming from the brig. Even though Leo had done it many times himself, she was surprised to see him so immersed in a tale of his elusive hero. Finally, she told him how the red and white ship toppled over, broken as it slowly sunk into the ocean’s depths.

“Damn,” Leo breathed. “That’s amazing, Sakura. You are one lucky mermaid,” he said.

“I-I kinda am…” She felt hesitant to boast like this, but it was true. “A-after all, not many h-humans would have t-turned me loose l-like that…”

Leo shrugged with his free shoulder. “I know better,” he said.

“Alright,” Niles said, sitting up, putting the bloody needle on a stool near them. He took the towel, patting at where he begun to soak up some blood. “After this, break time. My back is killing me,”

“Your back hurts? I’m _so_ sorry,” Leo drawled out. Niles stood up and stretched himself out, reaching his arms to the ceiling of Leo’s captain’s quarters.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, heading to the door. “Need to restock on rum to keep that hand steady,”

“Yeah, yeah.” Leo waved his hand as the other excused himself. He smiled and turned to Sakura, still holding the towel over his wrist. “Would you like to see so far?”

With an eager nod, she leaned over and waited on the edge of her seat as Leo uncovered his arm. Her bright expression fell, her brows narrowing as she tilted her head. So far, his tattoo looked like nothing but curved triangles. Why would he…

Then she gasped, realizing that they weren’t some odd design. They were cascading scales, evident by the light shading on the top few. Though it was unfinished, she could see the pattern clear as day now. “It’s…” Her voice was quiet as she reached for his hand, her finger touching the skin. “They look like mine…”

Leo chuckled, letting her touch and see. “That was the point. I suppose Niles should get a raise now, hm?”

Sakura didn’t answer, instead imagining what it would look like when it was finished. In her mind, she could see him going about his daily activities, but with his new work of art around his forearm. It was on the hand he wrote with, the hand he held his sword in, aimed his pistol with. It would be with him everywhere he went. She would be with him.

Leo’s smiled dropped when she hung her head, taking a soft breath. “Hey, hey…” He lifted her chin in time to see a stray tear run down her cheek. With that same hand, he used his thumb to wipe it away, pain in his expression. “What’s wrong? Have I…insulted you?”

With a gasp, she shook her head. “No, no.” She forced a laugh, smiling at the end. “I’m just…” Sakura closed her eyes and leaned her cheek into the palm of his hand. She lifted her hand to his wrist, feeling the tender and moist skin. Such agony he had endured for her, and it wasn’t even finished. How long would he continue to give. “I love it,” she whispered.

A warm smile returned to his lips, his thumb stroking her skin as he leaned in, the gaps between them closing.

_Leo, now I know…I do want to be with you. Forever._

**Author's Note:**

> As you can see, this is part of a series, so there will be more. Also some delicious XanMozu to go with it.


End file.
